Fake marriage scandal: Three Nigerians arrested in Tilbury church
Three Nigerians have been arrested over allegations of fake marriage in Tilbury near London.
The arrests followed a tip to the UK Border Agency operation that the alleged wedding was due to hold at a church in the city.
Officers from a specialist immigration crime team stormed the venue to stop the suspected fake wedding at St John’s Church, Dock Road, Tilbury as it was about to start at 12:00. The church vicar was a party to the operation as he offered to assist Immigration Department in the operation, fully getting set for the wedding conduct in an apparent set up of the bride and the groom.
Uk Border Agencies
The Nigerian groom and Dutch bride were put in handcuffs at the altar, while two witnesses – with the arrest of two Nigerians(a man and woman) who were inside the church during the operation.
Another Nigerian, believed to be the wedding ’fix-link’, tried to escape by jumping over a 6ft fence but was apprehended by the officers from Essex Police unit.
At least five people including the Dutch bride were arrested on suspicion of assisting a breach of immigration laws.
They were taken immediately to Grays police station.
The Reverend of St John’s was involved in the planning of the operation and fully supportive of the Immigration action taken by the UK Border Agency.
UK Border Agency assistant director Sam Bullimore said:
‘We will not tolerate immigration abuse, and our immigration crime teams are cracking down on sham marriages all over the country.
‘If we uncover marriages that are not genuine, we will challenge them and prosecute where appropriate. Our main aim is to identify the organisers who profit from and fuel the demand for sham marriages, and destroy their criminal business.
‘We do not expect vicars or registrars to be experts in immigration law or spotting forged documents – that’s our job. But if they have any suspicions about whether a relationship is genuine, we would urge them to get in touch with us.’
Detective Sergeant Andy Harvey of Essex Police said:
‘Sham weddings are big business with the organisers charging £10,000 or more to arrange ceremonies and to pay “brides” and “witnesses”. The UK Border Agency and Essex Police are working closely to crack down on the criminals involved in these activities.’
Anyone with possible information about immigration crime should contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or visit the Crimestoppers website, where anonymity can be assured.
In 2009, UK Border Agency officers carried out 900 illegal working enforcement operations across the Midlands and East region.
Share on bebo- Blog this!
- Bookmark on Delicious
- Digg this post
- Share on dzone
- Recommend on Facebook
- Share on FriendFeed
- Buzz it up
- Share on linkagogo
- Share on Linkedin
- Mixx it up
- Share via MySpace
- Share on netvibes
- Share on nuJIJ
- Share on Orkut
- Share on Posterous
- share via Reddit
- Share this on sphinn
- Share with Stumblers
- Share on technorati
- Tumblr it
- Tweet about it
- Share on xing
- Buzz it up
- Subscribe to the comments on this post
- Print for later
- Bookmark in Browser
- Tell a friend
Related Posts
Short URL: http://www.emnnews.com/?p=5932
Posted by admin
on 2:06 am. Filed under Breaking News, Editorial.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
